Should Women Teach or Not?

 

Here are two verses in the Bible that seem to contradict greatly. I think this is why there is so much confusion over women in leadership in the church today, or women teaching in general.
 

Proverbs 31:26, "She speaks with wisdom,

and faithful instruction is on her tongue."
 

1 Timothy 2:12-14, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner."
 

However, in the early church when Paul was writing this, women were elders, deacons and even pastors. In Romans 16 he even mentions a woman named Phoebe and that she was either an elder or the pastor of a church. A woman named Priscilla is mentioned in Romans 16:3. She is noted as serving along side her husband and that they are possibly pastors together. In Romans 16:7 Paul mentions a woman named Junia as being even a fellow apostle with him.
 

So are women supposed to be in leadership in the church or not? Paul definitely made it hard for all of us reading the Bible today to understand what he meant by his statement in 1 Tim. 2.
 

This has been a personal issue and life long question for me, because I went to a very conservative Christian college, Biola University. Certain majors were not even allowed for women to enroll in, like a Masters of Divinity etc. A friend of mine was a worship leader in our chapel time but even that was somewhat frowned upon. Biola was very male dominant and discouraged women in general from leading too much. Which I always thought was sad. 
 

Today, a lot of churches don't ever allow women to preach. They might say that a woman can "share" but not preach. 
 

There is a lot of stigma even around Joyce Meyer teaching just because she is a woman, and it is probably all because of these verses in 1 Tim. But are we possiby misunderstanding the verses?
 

What did Paul mean by his statement? It does seem to be a universal statement because he says Eve was the one who was decieved. He seems to say that women are more gullible and so should not be allowed to be in positions of authority or to teach men. 
 

But does that not contradict with what Proverbs 31 says? It says the ideal woman WILL speak wisdom and give faithful instruction. 
 

So the topic is still on the table really. Should women teach or not? And who can women teach? Should women be in leadership in church or not? It's hard to say really. 
 

Feel free to comment your thoughts on this. 
 

God bless! :)